MANHATTAN, Kan. _ His first lob dunk brought Kansas State fans to their feet. His second sent TCU basketball players scurrying for answers.
Xavier Sneed set the tone for K-State during a 65-55 victory over the Horned Frogs by throwing down two of the most acrobatic slams of the season on Saturday at Bramlage Coliseum.
They were signs of a team on the rise.
For weeks, the Wildcats have carried the label of a defensive team. They haven't been much to look at on the offensive end, but they score enough points to win. Throw a zone defense at them and they'll really struggle. That's how outsiders viewed them.
Right or wrong, those opinions go out the window when Barry Brown and Kamau Stokes are connecting with Sneed on alley-oop dunks like they were against TCU. Points don't come much easier, or more explosive, than that.
The Wildcats used them to pull ahead of the Horned Frogs 43-32 early in the second half and eventually win comfortably. The first came in transition when Sneed snuck behind the defense and flushed a pass from Brown. The second came in a halfcourt set, with Stokes sending a beautiful pass into Sneed's hands from the corner.
Those highlights broke open what otherwise was a close game between Big 12 contenders.
"That had to be demoralizing," senior K-State forward Dean Wade said. "We've got everyone pushing the ball and Xavier comes around the back side of the defense and just goes up. He's athletic, and he gets the whole crowd going. When he throws it down it's hard to come back from. That was great energy for us. It seems like after a couple of those go down our defense gets flowing."
TCU faced an uphill battle from there, but it pushed K-State hard late in the first half when it pulled within 30-27 and switched to a zone defense. The Wildcats have gone cold against packed defenses all season. If things were going to go bad for Bruce Weber's team, this seemed like the time.
But they didn't flinch. Wade and Mike McGuirl combined for seven straight points as K-State pulled ahead 37-30 at halftime.
The Horned Frogs opened the second half in man-to-man defense, and that's when Sneed lifted off.
TCU coach Jamie Dixon called timeout after Sneed's second alley-oop dunk, and the Horned Frogs made enough adjustments to stay in the game. But K-State never surrendered the lead.
"Those were good plays," TCU guard Alex Robinson said. "To be honest with you, I don't know how much momentum change it was. They already had momentum at that point. (Sneed) played well."
"Simply put," added TCU coach Jamie Dixon, "they did whatever they wanted."
With the win, K-State (14-4, 4-2 Big 12) continued its ascent to the top of the conference standings. The Wildcats have erased an ugly start to league play by winning four straight and are tied for first in the Big 12 with Kansas (who lost on Saturday), Texas Tech (who also lost on Saturday) and Iowa State.
The Wildcats play Texas Tech on Tuesday at home.
They will take their chances with another effort like this one.
"We are very confident," Wade said. "We knew we were a good team. We hadn't shown it a few times this season, but right now we are headed in the right direction. We are hitting our stride and everyone is playing great basketball."
Sneed led K-State with 18 points. It was easily his finest game of the season. After TCU (13-4, 2-3) took away the lob dunk, he got busy in other areas. His driving layup in the final minutes that gave the Wildcats a 62-50 lead felt like a clincher.
"It was good to see a couple go down," Sneed said. "I was just picking and choosing my spots on defense and taking what they were giving me on offense. I knocked down some shots for my team."
But he got lots of help. Wade had 16 points and six assists. And Brown scored 10 points. It was the first time Brown failed to eclipse 20 points during K-State's winning streak, but he didn't need to be the hero during this one. K-State won with a more complete effort that also included big plays from Stokes and Makol Mawien.
Alex Robinson was the best player for TCU. The senior guard led the Horned Frogs with 17 points and refused to let his team give in, even as K-State delivered highlights on its home floor.
K-State proved it was ready to take care of business from the beginning by scoring the first seven points.
The Wildcats moved the ball around for open looks and knocked them down while playing impressive defense. The Horned Frogs turned it over on their first three possessions before they could even attempt a shot. K-State stayed aggressive on defense and held TCU to its lowest scoring output of the season.
"We came out with really good emotion, executed and jumped on them," Weber said. "If you think about it, that was the difference in the game. I think we wore them down as the game continued."
It felt like K-State was on its way to another double-digit victory when it pulled ahead early, and that's exactly what happened.
Those wins are easy to come by when Sneed is throwing down multiple lob dunks.
